SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Criminal
Law Consolidation Act 1935, as amended through 2003.

Division
17—Abortion

Attempts
to procure abortion

81. (1) Any woman who, being with child, with intent to procure her own miscarriage,
unlawfully administers to herself any poison or other noxious thing, or
unlawfully uses any instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent,
shall be guilty of an offence and liable to be imprisoned for life.

(2) Any person who, with intent to procure the miscarriage of any woman,
whether she is or is not with child, unlawfully administers to her, or causes
to be taken by her, any poison or other noxious thing, or unlawfully uses any
instrument or other means whatsoever with the like intent, shall be guilty of
an offence and liable to be imprisoned for life.

Procuring
drugs etc to cause abortion

82. Any person who unlawfully supplies or procures any poison or other
noxious thing, or any instrument or thing whatsoever, knowing that it is
intended to be unlawfully used or employed with intent to procure the
miscarriage of any woman, whether she is or is not with child, shall be guilty
of an offence and liable to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three years.

Medical
termination of pregnancy

82A. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 81 or 82, but
subject to this section, a person shall not be guilty of an offence under
either of those sections—

(a) if the pregnancy of a woman is terminated by a legally
qualified medical practitioner in a case where he and one other legally
qualified medical practitioner are of the opinion, formed in good faith after
both have personally examined the woman—

(i)
that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve greater risk to the life of
the pregnant woman, or greater risk of injury to the physical or mental health
of the pregnant woman, than if the pregnancy were terminated; or

(ii) that there is a
substantial risk that, if the pregnancy were not terminated and the child were
born to the pregnant woman, the child would suffer from such physical or mental
abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped,

and where the treatment
for the termination of the pregnancy is carried out in a hospital, or a
hospital of a class, declared by regulation to be a prescribed hospital, or a
hospital of a prescribed class, for the purposes of this section; or

(b )if the
pregnancy of a woman is terminated by a legally qualified medical practitioner
in a case where he is of the opinion, formed in good faith, that the
termination is immediately necessary to save the life, or to prevent grave
injury to the physical or mental health, of the pregnant woman.

(2) Subsection (1)(a) does not refer or apply to any woman who has not resided
in South Australia for a period of at least two months before the termination
of her pregnancy.

(3) In determining whether the continuance of a pregnancy would involve such
risk of injury to the physical or mental health of a pregnant woman as is
mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(i), account may
be taken of the pregnant woman's actual or reasonably foreseeable environment.

(4) The Governor may make regulations—

(a) for requiring any
such opinion as is referred to in subsection (1) to be certified by the legally
qualified medical practitioners or practitioner concerned in such form and at
or within such time as may be prescribed and for requiring the preservation and
disposal of any such certificate made for the purposes of this Act; and

(b) for requiring
any legally qualified medical practitioner who terminates a pregnancy, and the
superintendent or manager of the hospital in which the termination is carried
out, to give notice of the termination and such other information relating to
the termination as may be prescribed to the Director‑General of Medical
Services; and

(c) for
prohibiting the disclosure, except to such persons or for such purposes as may
be prescribed, of notices or information given pursuant to the regulations; and

(d) declaring a particular hospital or a class of hospitals to be a
prescribed hospital or a prescribed class of hospitals for the purposes of this
section; and

(e) for providing for, and prescribing, any penalty, not
exceeding two hundred dollars, for any contravention of, or failure to comply
with, any regulations.

(5) Subject to subsection (6), no person is under a duty, whether by contract
or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment
authorised by this section to which he has a conscientious objection, but in
any legal proceedings the burden of proof of conscientious objection rests on
the person claiming to rely on it.

(6) Nothing in subsection (5) affects any duty to participate in treatment
which is necessary to save the life, or to prevent grave injury to the physical
or mental health, of a pregnant woman.

(7) The provisions of subsection (1) do not apply to, or in relation to, a
person who, with intent to destroy the life of a child capable of being born
alive, by any wilful act causes such a child to die before it has an existence
independent of its mother where it is proved that the act which caused the
death of the child was not done in good faith for the purpose only of
preserving the life of the mother.

(8) For the purposes of subsection (7), evidence that a woman had at any
material time been pregnant for a period of twenty‑eight weeks or more
shall be prima facie proof that she was at that time pregnant of a child
capable of being born alive.

(9) For the purposes of sections 81 and 82, anything done with intent to
procure the miscarriage of a woman is unlawfully done unless authorised by this
section.

5. (1) Before any treatment for the termination of a pregnancy in
accordance with section 82A(1)(a) of the Act is
commenced, the doctor who will be performing the termination and the other
doctor referred to in that paragraph must complete a certificate in accordance
with the instructions contained in Part A of Schedule 1 (including all other information
required by Part A of that Schedule).

(2) As soon as practicable after a pregnancy is terminated in accordance with
section 82A(1)(b) of the Act, the doctor who performed the termination
must complete a certificate in accordance with the instructions contained in
Part A of Schedule 1 (including all other information required by Part A of
that Schedule).

(3) As soon as practicable after a pregnancy has been terminated under
paragraph (a) or (b) of section 82A(1), the doctor who performed
the termination must complete a notice in the form set out in Part B of
Schedule 1 (including all other information required by Part B of that
Schedule).

(4) The doctor who performed the termination must ensure that a certificate and
notice completed under this regulation in relation to the termination is
delivered or posted to the Director-General within 14 days of the termination.

(5) A copy of a certificate and notice completed under this section must be
retained by the doctor who performed the termination for a period of three
years commencing on the date of the termination.

Monthly
notification

6. The chief executive officer of a hospital at which a pregnancy has been
terminated during any calendar month must, within 20 days of the end of that
month, deliver or post to the Director-General a duly completed notice in the
form set out in Schedule 2.

Disclosure
of information

7. (1) A person must not produce a certificate or notice given under these
regulations, or disclose any information contained in such a certificate or
notice, except—

(a)for the purposes of
performing official duties—to an officer or employee of the Department of the
Minister to whom the administration of the South Australian Health
Commission Act 1976 has been committed; or

(b)as required by law; or

(c)for the purposes of
investigating or prosecuting an alleged offence—to a member of a law
enforcement or prosecution authority of the State; or

(d)for the purposes of any
legal proceedings—to the Court or other tribunal dealing with the proceedings;
or

(e)to the Medical Board of
South Australia for the purpose of enabling the Board to discharge its
functions according to law; or

(f)to the doctor who
terminated the pregnancy; or

(g)to any other doctor with
the consent, in writing, of the woman whose pregnancy was terminated.

(2) A person who has been requested to produce a certificate or notice in
accordance with paragraphs (f) or (g) of subsection (1) may
require the person making the request to complete a statutory declaration
verifying the grounds on which the request is made.

(3) Nothing in this regulation prevents the disclosure by the Director-General
of statistics, provided that such disclosure does not reveal the identity of
any woman who has had a pregnancy terminated or any doctor who has performed a
termination.

Prescribed
hospitals

8. The hospitals listed in Schedule 3 are declared to be prescribed
hospitals for the purposes of section 82A of the Act.

Offences

9. A person who—

(a)contravenes or
fails to comply with a provision of these regulations; or

(b)knowingly makes a statement or
provides information that is false or misleading in, or in connection with, a
certificate or notice given under these regulations,

is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty:$200.

SCHEDULE 1

Doctor's Certificates and Notice

A
copy of this form must be retained by the doctor who performed the termination
for a period of three years commencing on the date of the termination. The
original form is to be delivered or posted in a sealed envelope within 14
days of the termination of the pregnancy to the Director-General of Medical
Services, c/-Pregnancy Outcome Unit, Department of Human Services, P.O. Box 6, Rundle Mall,
Adelaide, S.A., 5000. The envelope must be clearly marked with the words
"STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL".

PLEASE
USE BLOCK LETTERS

PART A—CERTIFICATES

NAME,
ADDRESS AND QUALIFICATIONS OF DOCTOR WHO PROPOSES TO TERMINATE PREGNANCY OR, IN
THE CASE OF AN EMERGENCY TERMINATION, WHO HAS TERMINATED PREGNANCY:...........................................

NAME,
ADDRESS AND QUALIFICATIONS OF OTHER DOCTOR JOINING IN CERTIFICATE FOR ORDINARY
TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY:....................................................................................................................................

PREGNANT
WOMAN'S STATED PERIOD OF RESIDENCY IN SOUTH
AUSTRALIA BEFORE THE DATE OF THIS CERTIFICATE:.........................................................................................................................................................................

We
certify that in the case of the woman named above (whom we have each personally
examined) termination of pregnancy is justified under section 82A(1)(a) of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act
1935 on the following grounds:

*1.The
continuance of the pregnancy would involve greater risk to the life of the
pregnant woman than if the pregnancy were terminated.

*2.The
continuance of the pregnancy would involve greater risk of injury to the
physical or mental health of the pregnant woman than if the pregnancy were
terminated.

*3.There is a
substantial risk that, if the pregnancy were not
terminated and the child were born, the child would suffer from such physical
or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.

I
certify that in the case of the woman named above (whom I have personally
examined) termination of pregnancy was justified under section 82A(1)(b) of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act
1935 on the following grounds:

*4.Termination
of the pregnancy was immediately necessary to save the life of the pregnant
woman.

*5.Termination
of the pregnancy was immediately necessary to prevent grave injury to the
physical or mental health of the pregnant woman.

The
original notice is to be completed by the chief executive officer of the
hospital and delivered or posted in a sealed envelope, within 20 days of the
end of the month to which the notice relates, to the Director-General of
Medical Services, c/- Pregnancy Outcome Unit, Department of Human Services, P.O. Box 6, Rundle Mall,
Adelaide, S.A., 5000. The envelope must be clearly marked with the words
"STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL".